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By Charles Lefebvre

Highway 9 crash

Transportation minister to investigate Highway 9 crash

Aug 21, 2019 | 4:38 PM

FORT SASKATCHEWAN, AB — Alberta’s Transportation Minister says his office will be conducting an investigation into a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 9 on Tuesday which killed three people, injured 10 others and prompted a closure of a section of the highway for over 24 hours.

Speaking during an infrastructure announcement in Fort Saskatchewan Wednesday afternoon, Minister Ric McIver offered his condolences to the impacted families, and confirmed an investigation into the crash, the second fatal collision on Highway 9 in the past two weeks, will be underway.

“We will do our own investigation, and we will certainly look through what the police will share with us on their investigation, with an attempt to make sure the road is as safe as we can possibly make it,” said McIver.

The two collisions occurred in the same construction zone on Highway 9, where 54 kilometres of the highway are being repaved.

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The first collision, which occurred on August 7, saw a semi-truck crash into the back of an SUV, pushing it into a second semi-truck that was stopped in front of them for construction. A 10-year-old boy was killed, and four other family members were taken to hospital with serious injuries. The investigation continues and no arrests have been made.

McIver says Alberta Transportation investigated the collision on August 7 to determine if proper construction zone protocol was being followed, making sure the signage was up and speed limits were set.. The investigation determined the protocol was being followed.

Tuesday’s collision occurred 16 kilometres away from the area of the collision on August 7, McIver said.

“While they’re in the same construction zone, we believe they’re not connected,” he said.

McIver says Alberta Transportation officials are on scene at the crash site gathering information to help with their investigation.

The Ministry says as part of the investigation, Dangerous Goods will work with emergency responders to ensure the butane from the site is safely removed. Carrier Services will also conduct an investigation of all commercial carriers involved to ensure the trucking companies and their drivers were complying with all regulations, and an additional assessment of traffic management in the construction zone will be conducted.

The Ministry says these are standard protocol for incidents of this scope.

“We will do an investigation, and we will compare it to the investigation of the incident a couple of weeks ago, and we will compare it to whatever information that police are willing and able to share with us to evaluate whether we need to make any changes to that stretch of road,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of twinning the Highway 9, McIver says twinning is not currently on the list of projects for the ministry, but it is a project his department would consider.

“We have to do it by priority, and one of the heavy things we consider when we’re setting priorities is the safety of Albertans, the safety of the roads,” he said. “Nothing matters more.”